5 things to know about the Centre’s plan to boost telecom connectivity in Northeast

The Union telecom minister Manoj Sinha recently announced here that his ministry’s allocation to revamp telecommunication in the Northeast would be enhanced from Rs.10,749 crore to Rs. 15,000 crore soon. The allocation is one eighth of the total allocation of the department of telecom.

From connecting Panchayats with satellite to optical fibre connectivity for defence personnel deployed in remote parts of the Northeast, the DoT has many plans in store.

The TNT-The Northeast Today highlights at least five of them to give an idea about the Centre’s plan to change the way you talk on your phone or the Internet you use in the remote Northeast.

1. The ministry has set a target to achieve 100 per cent tele-density in the Northeast by 2020. This assumes significant as tele-density in some states was as low as 25 to 30 per cent. Assam is highest with 67 per cent telephone users in urban areas which is about 50 per cent in rural areas. The ministry asked all states of the Northeast to complete all pending projects by 2019 so that it could achieve its 100 per cent target.

2. The ministry asked all the state governments to assist it to erect 6994 mobile towers by June 2019 so that it could expand mobile connectivity in the region.

3. Last mile connectivity through BharatNet in all panchayats by December this year including satellite connectivity in the difficult and inaccessible gram panchayats.

4. The ministry also plans to provide optical fibre connectivity for the defence forces in the border areas. This, the minister said was initiated keeping in mind the strategic importance of the region.

5. The ministry’s plan also includes Wi-Fi project to provide Internet connectivity to the general rural people by December this year.